Film plans for bizarre life of cannibal

Six months after Germany's infamous cannibal Armin Meiwes was jailed for killing and eating another man, one of the country's most controversial film directors is to make a film of his bizarre life.

Rosa von Praunheim's film is to be titled Your Heart in My Brain and is expected to be shot later this year. A German film foundation in one of Germany's wealthiest federal states, North Rhine-Westphalia, has given the director its blessing, and a €20,000 ($A34,400) grant.

"It's controversial, but we think anything by Von Praunheim is worth supporting," said Erna Kiefer, the foundation's spokeswoman.

Meiwes's story made headlines worldwide in January when details emerged of the crime. In March 2001, Meiwes, 42, killed Jurgen Brandes, a man he had met on the internet, at his home near Rotenburg. Over the next few months, Meiwes ate part of his victim.

At his trial, Meiwes argued that his victim had consented and wanted to be eaten. He was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail for manslaughter.

Von Praunheim said his film would show Meiwes in his prison cell, talking to his victim's head. The head apparently asks Meiwes to eat him again.

Yesterday, Axel Wintermeyer, a member of Germany's right-wing opposition Christian Democrats, from Meiwes's home state of Hessen, described the film as perverse. "By making it, you are erecting a memorial to a perverted criminal," he said.